Posted on 06/13/2013 9:24:04 AM PDT by rickmichaels
PHILADELPHIA - The city building inspector who checked a Philadelphia building before it collapsed last week, killing six people, has died of an apparent suicide, local media reported.
The inspector died of a gunshot wound to the chest on Wednesday night, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported, citing law enforcement sources. He was found dead inside his vehicle in a wooded section of Shawmont Avenue in the Roxborough neighborhood of Philadelphia, the report said.
Police confirmed to Reuters that a suicide had taken place at that location but said they could not confirm the identity of the person who died.
Local affiliates for the ABC, CBS and NBC television networks also reported that the suicide victim was a city inspector who had inspected the building before it collapsed.
Earlier this week, Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams announced plans to convene a grand jury to investigate the extent of responsibility for last week's building collapse, which killed six people and injured 13 others.
Sean Benschop, who was operating the crane when the Market Street building in Center City fell, is the sole person charged so far in the case. He is being held without bail on charges of involuntary manslaughter, recklessly endangering another person, causing a catastrophe and risking a catastrophe.
The scope of the grand jury may include a look at the role of city agencies and their policies, Williams said.
The four-story building was being demolished and collapsed onto a Salvation Army Thrift Store next door.
The building had been issued a demolition permit on Feb. 1 and later that month passed a check by the inspector who is now dead, the Inquirer said.
That, and I'm sure there are plenty of lazy reporters out there who are perfectly happy to call any piece of heavy equipment a "crane." Kind of like how any gun is an AR-15 (or, in older stories, an AK-47).
It varies from jurisdiction to juridiction but often crane operators have to have special certification for the crane they are operating, a special current medical exam, a special crane safety check on that exact piece of equipement, a field safety inpsection and load test after crane set up and similar detail items that could have be also required to be checked by the inspector under local code guidelines.
The inpsector could have done something inproper prompting his suicide event, but that is pure speculation as the deaths themselves could have had a serious impact on him as he was the last code inspector present.
Demoliton companies range from very competent to fly-by-night and there is reason to believe that with an possibly impared operator they have the biggest liability in this issue.
*yikes* Dang if that doesn’t make sense.
I’d say you are lucky, but I see you are from California.
I lived in Philly for years and have been following this story in the Philly newspapers.
Apparently several people had complained to the Inspector’s Office about the demolition. One person had his email and responding emails from the Inspector’s Office published in the newspaper.
It appears that someone (the suicide?) took a look (or took a bribe, being Philly) and said everything was OK, nothing to see here.
Turns out he was wrong, huh? So it could be that this guy would be on the hot seat during an investigation. Did he actually look at the site? To what extent? Was he taking money not to look? etc. Was he negligent? Criminally negligent? We could keep on like this all afternoon. Suicide probably seemed like a good idea after he realized what a mess he was in.
Well played sir.
Like a fire inspector I knew. He offed himself after a tragic fire in a apartment complex killed several children. Turns out it was the kids that set it, but he blamed himself.
Tis a case of Phillycide
Dead men can’t spill the bribe beans
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.